The Watering Hole viewed from across Perranporth Bay (Bryan Mitchell / S&S)
The Watering Hole viewed from across Perranporth Bay (Bryan Mitchell / S&S)
The Watering Hole (Bryan Mitchell / S&S)
The Watering Hole is the kind of place dogs love: water to splash in, food scraps to scrounge for and belly rubs in the sunset. (Bryan Mitchell / S&S)
UK weekly edition, Wednesday, June 6, 2007
PERRANPORTH — The waves subside, the sun sinks into the Atlantic and the out-of-town beachgoers retire from the still-warm sandy shore.
Now it’s time to kick back at a Cornwall fixture that provides a one-of-a-kind setting to watch the sun disappear into the ocean as you sip a pint of cold beer and down a heaping hamburger entree.
The Watering Hole is the kind of bar one can only stumble upon in a true beach town.
Sure, urban joints might try to mimic the laid-back, beach-bum style or even pipe in some Hawaii-inspired music to complement the faux palm trees. But it’s impossible to capture the scent of the sea, the squawk of gulls and the sight of the rising tides unless you are, in fact, only feet from the shore.
And your feet are all you will need to get there.
The bar is roughly a quarter-mile down the beachfront from the city center parking lot, and most hotels are close enough that walking is the best option for all but the obnoxiously lazy.
The bar and restaurant is an open-air affair in which the cool ocean breezes waft through the open front doors, filling the room with the familiar summertime smell of salty ocean mists sprinkled with a cocktail of suntan lotion, surfer’s wax and spent boating fuel. Ahhh, the winter solstice seems a lifetime away.
The menu is nothing to inspire, but offers plenty of options. After an afternoon surfing session, it’s hard to beat a Watering Hole half-pound burger for 4.95 pounds ($10) washed down with two pints — yes, I walked back to my seaside hotel — for a total bill of roughly 10 pounds ($20).
The kitchen also can whip up vegetable lasagna served with fries and salad for 7.95 pounds ($16), an eight-ounce fillet served with fries, onion rings, tomatoes and peas for 13.95 pounds ($28) or some sizzling fajitas for 10.95 pounds ($22). The Watering Hole also serves up baguette sandwiches for roughly 5 pounds ($10).
The portions are plentiful, so you won’t go hungry. And there’s always a few scraps left over to satisfy the beach mutts that invariably wander up to the Watering Hole in search of a hamburger corner or fajita strip.
Don’t worry, even the strict health and safety inspector is bound to turn a blind eye to stray dogs lapping up the leftovers at a bar where being cool comes not from the breeze, but from a state of mind.
To see previous After Hours reviews, go to stripes.com/afterhours.
